Pertussis (Whooping cough) is a prolonged, often devastating infection of the upper respiratory tract caused by Bordetella pertussis. B. pertussis produces a vast array of potential virulence factors but which are important in causing disease are not completely known. The goal of this research is to study one virulence factor of B. pertussis, the adenylate cyclase in order to obtain reagents and background information which are necessary for further studies on the possible role of this toxin in the disease. Specifically the proposed studies involve: (1) production and purification of the adenylate cyclase for subsequent characterization studies. (2) to characterize the purified adenylate cyclase chemically and to determine possbile subunit structure and function. (3) to characterize the purified adenylate cyclase biologically including studies on the effect of the cyclase on phagocytic/metabolic activities of human and rabbit phagocytic cells, interaction with respiratory epithelium and production of monoclonal and affinity purified polyclonal antibody for immunological and structure-function studies. (4) and attempt to understand the genetics of the cyclase by cloning its structural genes.